Contest: Fall Out Boy/Paramore Tickets For Camden, NJ and Hershey, PA

Fall Out Boy and Paramore are going on a HUGE summer tour. We know you're all stoked and we're lucky enough to offer a pair of tickets to the Camden, NJ and Hershey, PA stops of this tour. This is your chance to win 'em before you can buy them, since tickets don't go on sale until late next week via Ticketmaster. How do you win? In the replies, tell us what one of these bands means to YOU as a fan and music lover. We'll pick our favorite response. Make sure to designate which show you are able to attend as well. Good luck!

I can actually attend either date - but here's my story.
One night in 2006 (when I was 15) years old a friend of mine asked me to go see The Rocket Summer at the North Star Bar in Philly. I basically knew "Brat Pack" and a couple other songs by him and hadn't heard of the openers; Brandtson, Daphne Loves Derby, or Paramore. I enjoyed both of the first two bands but Paramore blew me away. They have been my favorite band on Earth since that show and the fact that it has been nearly 8 years is insane to me. I have made tons of really close friends from all over the country, and even the UK, because of this band. I don't even consider them my "internet friends" or my "Paramore friends" anymore. They are my friends.

Paramore has become a lot more than a band to me over the past eight years, but of course their music was what started it all. Their music has taken me through high school, through college, and even now as I have my first "real job", they're still important to me. They have been an extremely important aspect of my life. I basically feel like I grew up with them.

I could do this for either, but I will pick Paramore.. I first heard Paramore while trying to park at Purple Door close to 10 years ago. I thought, 'Damn, the Benjamin Gate got really good!" Haha... My friend who I ran into their told me they were Paramore and to check out their debut CD that just came out. Obviously, I quickly became a fan and went to see them twice at the North Star Bar. I got a lot of people really excited about them back in the day. AWKIF is a CD that I can still listen to all the way through from front to back.. Riot came out and in all honesty, it's the CD that did the least for me. I still enjoyed seeing them on the festival circuits, but it wasn't until Brand New Eyes that I really got back into them. That CD showed off their impressive musical talents way better than Riot did in my opinion. I had the pleasure of seeing them on the Honda Civic Tour and they owned that tour. After the member changes, I wasn't sure which way it would go, but I (and now my wife who I picked up in between BNE and self-titled) love the direction they took. It's genius pop rock that they were destined to make. My wife and I would love to see them for the first time together (it would be her first). We may even bring our 2 and a half year old with us if everything permits. So to answer your question, seeing Paramore live since they were just starting out to where they are today has been a tradition of mine for 8 years now.. And I would like to continue it with my wife and son.... We could go to either date, Camden is the day before my 30th birthday, so it would be the last thing I do as a 20 year old, but Hershey is ten minutes from our apartment

I can actually attend either date - but here's my story.
One night in 2006 (when I was 15) years old a friend of mine asked me to go see The Rocket Summer at the North Star Bar in Philly. I basically knew "Brat Pack" and a couple other songs by him and hadn't heard of the openers; Brandtson, Daphne Loves Derby, or Paramore. I enjoyed both of the first two bands but Paramore blew me away. They have been my favorite band on Earth since that show and the fact that it has been nearly 8 years is insane to me. I have made tons of really close friends from all over the country, and even the UK, because of this band. I don't even consider them my "internet friends" or my "Paramore friends" anymore. They are my friends.

Paramore has become a lot more than a band to me over the past eight years, but of course their music was what started it all. Their music has taken me through high school, through college, and even now as I have my first "real job", they're still important to me. They have been an extremely important aspect of my life. I basically feel like I grew up with them.

Years ago I went to my 1st concert, the Nintendo Fusion Tour to see one of my favorite bands, Fall Out Boy. That concert changed my musical tastes for a decade. I saw what I now consider my 2nd favorite band for the 1st time, Motion City Soundtrack, discovered a new, just signed band, Panic! at the Disco and heard a band I enjoyed, but fell in love with after seeing live, The Starting Line. All because of Fall Out Boy.
Whats more is I attended this concert with 3 buddies form High School, all who I don't talk to as regularly as I should anymore, but I still have those memories of that amazing concert. Fall Out Boy set my musical tastes for most of my life and the band has always been there for me musically. Infinity on High, Golden in particular, got me through my 1st serious break up, Folie a Deux was the CD that made me accept bands could change, and I could change with them, that wanting a band to stay the same is not really being a fan because yo want to hold the band back. After their hiatus started Patricks solo music made me once again explore other music and see what I was missing. And then when they got back together a buddy and I braved a snow storm to drive to Chicago from OH to see the at their 1st show back, with no regrets.

Fall Out Boy had been around before I'd heard of them, admittedly. I was familiar with Grand Theft Autumn and Dead on Arrival, but it wasn't until Sugar We're Goin Down hit that Fall Out Boy became such a staple in my music catalog, soon to be the sun that all other music favorites orbited around. I was introduced to several of my other favorite bands through Fall Out Boy. Panic! At the Disco (which is still a second favorite to this day), The Academy Is..., and then of course, Paramore. For a while, I felt like my musical tastes were so influenced by my friends at the time and I never had something that I could plant my feet on and call my own, until the days when this scene would open its arms to me and subconsciously treat me as one of their own.

Sugar We're Goin Down hit right around the end of middle school for me, and I had recently reconnected with an old friend whom I'd known 6 years prior. He moved to my neighborhood and our reconnection was really something great. I felt like I had found a friend that I'd been missing for years now, however, it was difficult to find things to bond over. He was really into sports and I was really into video games, neither of us really giving way to the other, but accepting. Music is where we found our common ground. Music is where we became brothers.

It was also at this point that I began to pick up instruments for myself.

Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Panic! At the Disco, and My Chemical Romance were our mutual agreements of bands. Paramore and The Academy Is... soon followed. Him and I spent almost all of our freshman and sophomore years of high school learning Fall Out Boy songs; him on guitar and me on drums, though I would try my hand at singing soon as well, which would also eventually lead to songwriting. Him and I went to Bamboozle 2006, accompanied by my older sister, because we were still young at the time, we stayed in front of the main stage all day catching our favorite bands, letting Fall Out Boy cap the night off. It was also my first show, and an experience I will never forget for as long as I live.

Fall Out Boy is not just a band to me. They're a rock. They're the best friends I don't actually have hahaha. Through their years and ups and downs I felt like an understanding parent, letting them go on their hiatus, realizing that the band needed a breather. Watching each individual member grown on their own, coming back to Save Rock and Roll; it felt way too planned to be coincidence that Fall Out Boy grew with me. They often call themselves a gateway band, which is more appropriate than they probably realize. They've given me life and a dream that is my band called All of a Kind.

Yes, I am an unabashed fanboy, and anything I wind up accomplishing in music (if anything at all) will be attributed to them. There are a lot of other things I could say, but to sum it up, I'm sure I speak for lots of people when I say to Fall Out Boy: thank you.

This would be for either date since I am smack dab inbetween the two locations.

This would be for Fall Out Boy primarily. This story is more about my coworker than me, though.
My wife and I aregoing on the Parahoy cruise and I was at Skate and Surf Fest last year, so I'm cool with seeing both bands. My coworker, however, is not as lucky as I am. Between a couple of difficulties at work she has experience lately, included a hospital stay due to issues with Bells Palsy, it's been a rough couple of months for her. She's done her best to keep her chin up, but I know it's wearing down on her a bit. Very often I see her wearing her Fall Out Boy hoodie, and I know that she is a big Paramore fan as well. When I just mentioned the tour happening, her eyes were the widest I have ever seen them. If I were able to give her a set of tickets to either date, I'm sure that would make her year in a time when she would need it the most.

In 2005, my now estranged husband decided he didn't want to be married anymore. I was the sole breadwinner of our little family (one beautiful, challenging, special needs son) and traveled a fair distance back and forth to work everyday. I was coming to the end of my graduate studies in seminary and was sent into a tailspin of not knowing what to expect on any given day, what my new vocation might look like or even if I could expect to change my (and my son's) life in so many fundamental ways all at once. I had always listened to new music, even though I'm probably one of the oldest people here. I didn't stop listening to current radio like many of my peers. Because of that, I had exposure just like you guys to new bands as they came up - but this was pre-satellite so I had to rely on local radio - and the internet - to teach me. I discovered Fall Out Boy during this time.

Call it arrested development, but the early angsty lyrics on TTTYG and FUCT were my saving grace during this difficult time. I could sing and shout as loudly as I needed to on my commute - allowing me to vent all my frustrations in private rather than in front of my college employers student body or, worse, my son. Once IOH came out, I was a hard core fan. I began to attend concerts again. I had always been a huge fan of live concerts but had stopped going as real life got more and more expensive. Low and behold, I could see FOB and four or five other acts for the cost of a movie and popcorn - instead of taking out a small loan to see bigger acts of the day. Live music became another avenue of release for me - and a healing presence.

I could go on - but I want you to read this. I never ever laugh at kids who say a band saved their life. I know that for some it may be hyperbole, but I get it. Music mends broken hearts, right? Its the truth. When a voice in the speaker is singing to you - it touches you in the deepest places. I had the chance to meet Patrick and tell him that - being brave with new found friends at the May date in Philly. I was the last fan there and it was one of the biggest moments in my life since the birth of my son. My contemporaries sometimes laugh at me, I know. But for me, FOB and their music made my life turn for the better. Thanks!

I wrote this after attending a Paramore show during their spring tour. Paramore have brought fans up on stage to sing Misery Business at every show since. It's such a special part of being a Paramore fan that I'm so glad I had the guts to contribute to. Here's my piece.

Dear Paramore,

Words will not adequately express how I feel about what happened that night in Atlantic City but you bet I'm sure going to try and find the right ones. No one was as lucky as us that night. Three friends stuck in the bleachers traded our way onto the floor. Separated in an intensely passionate crowd we said our goodbyes and goodlucks for the mission I was about to send myself out on. I leaned on my friends back and hastily scrawled out "Can I sing with you?" on the back of her ticket. Pushing and pulling from side to side I didn't think I'd be able to hold it up for long. & I was almost sure that with all those flashing lights you wouldn't even be able to read it. I'm so glad that I stood my ground. Some part of me just believed it would happen. I knew somewhere in my mind and especially in my heart that this connection I have with you (however big on my part or small on yours) would carry my message to you. I felt it in my bones. & When you saw the sign held high at the last moment and pulled me up on that stage...I felt like I was finally at home. Singing the words that mean so much to me along side my five best friends who, despite the fact aren't techically accqauinted to me, make me feel like family.

Over the years I've had a few rough experiences- the love arcade telling me paramore wouldn't care about me back in 07 before RIOT! dropped. Hayley trying to talk to us at fuse while some old man complained he was waiting too long causing her to stick up for my friend and I saying we were waiting just as long... only for her to get whisked away into her car by security (with chad no less! haha) & my mean sister for not letting me use her laptop to upload my submission to the contest for the born for this backup vocals!

& in summation just thiking that my role as a fan was insignificant. That their lives carry on and were just another face in the crowd.
but we're wrong. They notice. They feel it. They know you love them. & They love you just as much...maybe even more.

It's not a dream anymore.
It's a reality.
& fighting for that dream was the most beautiful gift I've ever been given.

This is for all the fans who wish it was them up there.
This is for all the parawhores who have ever dreamed of doing what I got the amazing opportunity to do.

<3 Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Laura (The girl who rocked it on stage in AC!)

I can honestly say that Fall Out Boy have saved my life. I remember my first time seeing them and being in awe as an 10 year old. I didn't know I could connect to anything the way I felt connected with them. Since that show, an addiction started. I can't count the times I saw FOB in my middle and high school days, but they were some of the best times of my life. I remember sitting outside in Hartford all day hoping I could get a decent spot in the crowd. I remember waiting in line for a M&G when I got a call saying my grandfather had cancer. I have so many memories, good and bad, surrounding FOB that I can't begin to list them all.

Then they announced that they were taking a break. I remember being at that last show, Madison Square Garden with Blink 182, and crying. I had always had a FOB show to look forward to, to keep me going. I spent the next 4 years waiting for something to happen.

Now they're back and I couldn't be happier. After they announced that they were back, I finally got the FOB tattoo I had always wanted (that's a really bad picture of it right after the guy was done doing it). Seeing them at Skate & Surf gave me chills. This past year, I came to a new realization as to why FOB means so much to me. They are something that I bond with people through. I made some of my best friends through a mutual love for the band. My boyfriend even shares a love for FOB! My anxiety makes it hard for me to become friends with people, but if someone loves FOB I know we will get along well.

I would really appreciate winning tickets to either date. Thank you :)

If I'm being completely honest, I'm just a casual fan of FOB, but they are my girlfriend's favorite band in the entire world. FUTCT was the only album she listened to in middle school. She was supposed to see them on their original reunion tour when her now ex-boyfriend got her tickets, but he then proceeded to break up with her, go to the show, get back together with her and tell her every amazing detail about the show. She still has yet to see FOB. They're not together anymore and basically despise each other. I would love a pair of tickets so I can actually take her to see them and not be a total dick of a boyfriend!

Fall Out Boy has indubitably been the most important band in my life. This summer, I will be approaching my twenty first birthday, and for 10 years, I have always went to Fall Out Boy as my go-to band for responsibly getting me into music.

The first meaningful concert I ever attended was the Honda Civic Tour in 2007, where Fall Out Boy headlined. At this show, I not only got to see my favorite band tour off of their most under-appreciated album (Infinity on High), but I was introduced to the music scene that I wanted to solely associate myself with. This was the same night where I was introduced to The Academy Is (who would later become one of my favorite bands), and my newfound obsession with them eventually led to me discovering other smaller bands that played music similar to Fall Out Boy. One band's discovery led to another, and soon I had more than just 50 bands on my iPod. Each artist on my iPod today is a direct result of my love for Fall Out Boy, their tour friends, and their peers.

When Fall Out Boy took the stage that night in May and opened with "Thriller," I knew that I had to buy a drum set as soon as possible. Andy's double-bass beat on that particular track was addicting and inspired me to take up the drums seriously. I would not be satisfied until I could nail that beat. Eventually, I started taking drum lessons; as a part of each week's lesson, my teacher let us pick one song that he would teach us after we did all of the rudimentary and mandatory basic percussive skills. My song picks, week after week, were always Fall Out Boy tracks. I was fascinated with learning the intro to Thriller, the post-chorus of Carpal Tunnel of Love, and the speed required to do Reinventing the Wheel. Fall Out Boy was not only the band to get me INTO music, but the band that made me a respectable musician that plays constantly today.

May 2007 was Fall Out Boy's last headlining set in Pittsburgh until May 2013, which was on their reunion tour. Just like the thousands of other obsessed fans, I was on ticketmaster the second tickets went on sale for their show, and I was luckily able to secure two of them before the show quickly sold out. It turns out that the night before the reunion show in Pittsburgh, my girlfriend's sister was rushed to the hospital. We had to spend the evening at home with family and not go to the show. While it was heartbreaking to miss the band on the reunion tour, I knew I was doing the right thing, and I didn't have to think twice about my decision to stay at home and be with her. My girlfriend's sister sadly ended up passing away this November, and I was never able to see Fall Out Boy. I am, of course, going to be away this summer when they make their way through Pittsburgh, so tickets to the Hershey show would be SO incredibly appreciated. I have been aching to see them for 7 years, and the timing has just been so off. It would mean the world to me.